I'll admit, I really didn't know much about this guy until he submitted some stories to us for the new holiday issue, but those were really good! I came across a super deal on a book of his with James Herbert of Amazon and couldn't resist. A hardcover for $1.77 plus shipping! Check it out!

He's a speaker at the Superstars Writing Seminar that a friend turned me on to. It's in Vegas this year. Apparently it's a 3 day seminar that costs a freakin' 900 bucks a head, but it's supposed to be fantastic!

He's a great writer, but more sci-fi and fantasy. And his work output is INSANE! He writes so much it's not even funny. And he dictates his work while out hiking and stuff. How awesome is that?

I hear he's got an assistant that transcribes his recordings, which if true obviously helps speed along his output, but he really is an inspiration when I'm sitting here saying I have no time to write a damn short story and this dude is writing like seven novels at once! Haha.

I snagged that Hellhole deal as well. It's been like that for like two months then. What an insane deal! And I have Amazon Prime, so I got free shipping, which I imagine was more than $1.77! Crazy.

Anyway, I'd read his Saga of Seven Suns series before, but really delved into his work when he put out The Edge of the World, the first book in the Terra Incognita series.

I'm a huge Lana Lane and Erik Norlander fan, and apparently Kevin is too, as well as a prog fan in general. I don't really know how it came about, but to go along with the novel Erik wrote an accompanying CD called Terra Incognita: Beyond The Horizon, under the moniker Roswell Six. Kevin and his wife wrote the lyrics. And it's a fantastic album!

Henning Pauly (you probably know him from the Frameshift albums) wrote the follow-up disc, Terra Incognita: A Line In the Sand, which went along with book 2, The Map of All Things. And again, a great album!

Sadly, while I guess the third album is written, again by Henning Pauly, there is no money to record it. The third book, The Key to Creation, is available, though.

After dropping hints for a while, finally the big announcement, a new project unlike any other I’ve ever done…and something that I consider very cool.

Most of you are aware of my long-standing friendship with Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist from the legendary rock band Rush, as well as how much Rush has influenced my work. My first novel Resurrection, Inc. was closely inspired by the Rush album “Grace Under Pressure,” and I can point to dozens of other novels and stories that bear a clear Rush influence.

For more than twenty years, Neil and I have wanted to collaborate on something MAJOR, a way we could tie together our imaginations, and at last that’s happening.

I’m writing the novelization of Rush's forthcoming album Clockwork Angels, their first new CD in five years. Imagine if someone had written the novel of The Wall, Tommy, or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band when those classic albums were released. For Rush fans, CLOCKWORK ANGELS is that project.

I worked together with Neil to flesh out the epic story told over the course of the music, as well as the artist Hugh Syme whose paintings fill the CD booklet. In a young man’s quest to follow his dreams, he is caught between the grandiose forces of order and chaos. He travels across a lavish and colorful world of steampunk and alchemy, with lost cities, pirates, anarchists, exotic carnivals, and a rigid Watchmaker who imposes precision on every aspect of daily life. To whet your appetite, Rush released the first two tracks, “Caravan” and “BU2B”—listen to those songs to get an idea of the story’s beginning.

I’m writing the chapters now, incorporating the lyrics into the narrative, and having a fantastic time. More details to come, but for now—to quote a line from Caravan: “I can’t stop thinking big.”

The book should be awesome. The album, who knows? They still got that chick singer, right?